Saving Private Ryan

17/01/2018 07:56

Saving Private Ryan is a movie directed by Steven Spielberg released in 1998. A film which is both moving and quite violent. I do not recommand this movie for the sensitive people as it contains extreme gore scenes (especially the opening). But if the vision of blood doesn't bother you and you like good movies, this one is for you! Even if the film takes place during World War II, I don't consider it as a war movie. It's more like a movie depicting the search for a missing man who has lost his brother with the war for background. The only reproach I would do to this movie is that it's a little bit too manichean.

The film is about a group of U.S. soldiers going behind enemy lines during World War II in France to retrieve a paratrooper whose brothers have been killed in action.

Did you know that:

All the principal actors had several days of army training - except for Matt Damon (Private Ryan in the movie), who was spared so that the other actors would resent him, and would express that resentment in their performances.
40 barrels of fake blood were used in the opening battle scene.
Spielberg reduced the color saturation of the movie by 60% for artistic reasons (you can see the movie has a kind of grey filter), both major American satellite providers and numerous cable TV providers turned up the chroma gain to re-enhance the color saturation to normal-looking levels when broadcasting the movie. They did this because on the first day or two of the movie's broadcast run, their customer service centers were swamped with calls from viewers complaining that something was wrong with the color.
For the opening scene in the sea, spare ammunition carried by the actors was made from wood, as metal was too heavy.
The two "German" soldiers who are shot trying to surrender after the invasion of Omaha Beach were speaking Czech. They were saying, "Please don't shoot me, I am not German, I am Czech, I didn't kill anyone, I am Czech!" They were members of what the Germans called Ost Battalions, men - mostly Czech and Polish - taken prisoner in eastern European countries invaded by Germany and forced into the German army.
Gunfire sound effects heard in the film were recorded from actual gunfire with live ammunition fired from authentic period weapons, recorded at a live fire machine gun range near Atlanta, Georgia. The range is owned by a weapons manufacturer.
The Omaha Beach scene cost $11 million to shoot and involved up to 1000 extras. Of those extras, 20-30 of them were amputees issued with prosthetic limbs to simulate soldiers having their limbs blown off.
Cinemas were instructed to turn up the volume when they would show the film as the sound effects play such a crucial part in its overall effect, especially the bullets' sound.
Many veterans of D-Day have congratulated Spielberg for the film's authenticity, including actor James Dooha. Doohan lost the middle finger of his right hand and was wounded in the leg during the war. Also, he participated in the invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944, at Juno Beach, where the 3rd Canadian infantry division led the attack. He commended Spielberg for not removing any gory details.
Two of the landing craft used in the Omaha Beach scenes were actually in use in World War II.

As usual, here is a scene from the movie: the sniper in the tower. It was hard to choose between the Omaha Beach scene, the ending battle or also the scene where Ryan's mother learns the death of her sons. As you can see, this movie is full of unforgettable moments. And of course, some pictures from the film!